


Signal

by legendaryroar



Series: We'll Figure It out as We Go [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Galaxy Garrison, M/M, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 11:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15533673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendaryroar/pseuds/legendaryroar
Summary: Shiro's always wondered why Matt chose that as their signal.





	Signal

Matt leans back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head and yawning loudly. Shiro glances up briefly, but then looks back to his notes. Pietro finally stops tapping his pen on the table for a moment, but when Matt pushes his chair back and stands up, he resumes the irritating habit.

When he glances up again, Shiro catches Matt’s eyes just as Matt pushes some hair behind his ear. The action makes Shiro’s face start to feel warm, and he watches Matt wander off towards the exit of the library, muttering about getting snacks.

The notes he’s been writing are suddenly out of focus when he looks back down. He waits a beat, and then another, time is feeling like it’s passing more slowly while he waits. When he thinks it’s been long enough, he stands.

“Need to cut back on coffee,” he mutters, slowly stepping out from the table and pushing his chair in, trying not to look like he’s rushing.

“You have a bladder the size of a pea, Shiro,” Anna laughs, not even looking up from where she’s copying a diagram from a textbook.

“Yeah, yeah,” Shiro mutters, feeling heat build in his cheeks and ears as he leaves the table and heads towards the exit of the library himself.

Once outside, he veers off towards the bathrooms, walking faster even though he’s trying to walk slowly. By the time he gets there, he feels wired from the increasing pace of his heart and the warmth starting to creep through his body. He really should have stayed in the library, the theory test they have the next day is crucial, and he needs a high grade to support his application for command, but…

“So slow,” Matt says, grabbing him by the collar the moment he enters the bathroom.

Shiro could easily stop him, but he lets Matt drag him into a stall and back him up against one of the wall of the stall as the door shuts behind them. They never get enough time alone. He’s struggling to even remember the last time they managed to sneak a kiss with the hectic lead up to exams.

Matt lets him go long enough to ruffle his own hair. The strands he’d tucked behind his ear fall loose again and Shiro feels a familiar question come to mind. It’s not the time to ask, not when they only have ten minutes at most before their absence will be suspicious. But he can’t quite stop himself, he’s been wondering ever since Matt suggested it as a signal.

“What’s with the ear thing anyway?”

The reaction he gets is far from what he expects. Matt’s eyes go wide, and then he rubs the back of his neck in that awkward way of his. A sure sign that he’s embarrassed or nervous.

“Oh, you know. Just a signal. Could have been anything. First thing that came to mind, you know?”

Pink is spreading across his face. Shiro watches it build for a moment, then reaches out. Matt goes still the second Shiro’s fingers brush his ear. He stops breathing as Shiro gently rubs his earlobe between his thumb and finger.

“Just an insignificant signal? Really?” he asks.

“Yeah.” Matt’s voice is higher, breathless.

It only takes another second until it hits Shiro, and he feels his own face heat. “ _Oh_.”

With as gentle pressure as he can manage, he lightly pinches Matt’s earlobe. Matt sucks in a breath. The sound has the faintest trace of a moan to it.

“I know it’s weird. Don’t tell anyone,” Matt breathes.

“Absolutely not,” Shiro says, scraping his thumbnail over Matt’s earlobe and watching him shudder and slide his eyes half shut.

Matt makes a soft sound, then seeming startled by it, snaps his eyes wide open and slaps Shiro’s hand away.

“Possessive. I like it. No time to get into that though. You gonna loom over me like that or lend a hand and bend down a little?”

Laughter bubbles up out of Shiro, and he leans down just a bit. Matt just grabs the sides of his face and pulls him down further, forceful enough that they move a step. Shiro has to quickly brace himself by putting a hand on the other side of the stall.

They hover there for a moment, Shiro leaning down, Matt staring up at him, so close their noses touch.

“We still doing this, Takashi?” Matt asks softly. Shiro can tell at once he doesn’t just mean kissing in the bathrooms. Unease shoots through him immediately, but before he can talk, Matt continues. “We might get separated after exams. Graduates don’t always stay on base. We might be assigned elsewhere. Might be on different teams. Different missions. Maybe even different continents.”

His words touch on all the things Shiro’s been pushing to the back of his mind constantly as they go through their exams. It always comes back up, and he always pushes it away. He’s not ready to deal with it. He’s not sure he ever will be.

“After only just cluing me in about your ears? No chance we’re done yet,” he jokes, trying to lighten the mood and chase those thoughts, and the sinking feeling that comes with them, away. Matt’s right about all of that. The odds are not in their favour. “I’ll just have to get into command and pull strings to have you assigned with me.”

Matt grins his wide grin, the one that lights up his face like Christmas as come early for him. It’s the same one that had Shiro tripping over his feet at their first meeting and stealing glances for years after, trying to figure out why a boy’s smile could cause such a strong reaction in him. The same smile that made Shiro take a terrifying risk and steal a kiss behind the shelves in the ethics section of the library a year ago, all red-faced and shaking hands.

“Shiro, my hero,” Matt whispers, catching Shiro’s lips in a kiss before he can protest for the umpteenth time to that ridiculous use of his name.

**Author's Note:**

> Re-posted from an old account to this, my new one. Also took the opportunity to touch it up a little by changing it to present tense, since it was the only one in the series in past tense and it was weirding me out XD
> 
> You can find me at [legendaryroar](http://legendaryroar.tumblr.com) on tumblr.


End file.
